Commerce 

and  Mis  sions 


BY 

Dr.  James  S.  Dennis 


LAYMEN’S  MISSIONARY  MOVEMENT 
1  Madison  Avenue 
New  York 


COMMERCE  AND  MISSIONS. 


By  Dr.  James  S.  Dennis. 


( Readers  who  are  interested  to  study  the  subject 
further  will  find  a  wealth  of  material  in  “Christian 
Missions  and  Social  Progress ”  by  the  same  author.) 

It  should  be  freely  acknowledged  at  the  outset 
that  commerce  has,  in  its  turn,  rendered  valuable 
'service  to  missions,  giving  to  them  the  benefit  of  its 
facilities  of  communication  and  transportation,  as  well 
as  ministering  in  many  ways  to  their  advancement, 
and  to  the  supply  of  their  varied  needs.  Since  the 
time  when  the  earliest  Christian  missions  followed  the 
great  trade  routes  of  the  world,  and  especially  since 
the  introduction  of  steam  and  electricity,  missions  have 
benefited  by  the  means  of  transport  which  commerce 
has  established  and  maintained.  In  spite  of  much  on 
the  part  of  commerce  that  incidentally  has  been  detri¬ 
mental  to  the  missionary  cause,  a  profitable  inter¬ 
change  of  service  can  nevertheless  be  demonstrated. 
The  evils  and  sins  of  commerce  are  not  essentially 
identified  with  it.  Its  nobler  spirit  and  its  more  honor¬ 
able  methods  may  be  regarded  as  both  favorable  and 
serviceable  to  the  aims  of  the  missionary.  Missions, 
on  the  other  hand,  have  in  their  turn  proved  help¬ 
ful  to  commerce  by  their  insistence  upon  moral 
standards,  by  their  discipline  in  matters  of  good  faith 
and  moral  rectitude,  by  their  suggestions,  at  least 
among  their  own  native  constituencies,  as  to  improved 
financial  methods,  by  their  promotion  of  trade  with 
the  outer  world,  and  by  the  stimulus  they  have  given 
to  the  introduction  of  the  conveniences  and  facilities 
of  modern  civilization.  They  have,  moreover,  been 


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Commerce  and  Missions 


sponsors  for  industrial  training  in  many  fields,  which 
has  given  an  economic  worth  to  native  converts,  and 
turned  them  from  their  trails  of  blood  and  plunder 
into  paths  of  useful  labor,  and  the  cultivation  of 
peaceful  industry. 

We  have  a  broad  range  of  research  here  open  to 
us  in  this  inquiry  as  to  the  relations  between  missions 
and  commerce — not  international  trade  merely,  but 
also  commercial  progress  in  its  local  environment 
among  native  races.  We  are  to  inquire  whether  these 
two  agencies,  commerce  from  without,  and  mission 
stimulus  and  enlightenment  in  various  fields,  have 
been  workers  together  for  the  commercial  benefit  of 
the  world.  Have  missions  been  influential  to  any 
extent  in  opening  avenues  for  commerce,  and  in  pro¬ 
moting  its  activities?  Have  they  ministered  to  its 
moral  tone,  and  taught  lessons  in  the  school  of  in¬ 
tegrity?  Have  they  helped  to  broaden  the  world’s 
markets,  to  swell  the  ranks  of  both  the  consumer  and 
the  producer,  and  to  enlarge  the  range  of  both  supply 
and  demand?  Is  commerce  historically  in  debt  to 
missions,  and  has  the  past  century  greatly  increased 
that  indebtedness?  May  we  regard  the  opportunities 
of  international  commerce  as  due  in  part  to  the  co¬ 
operation  of  missions,  by  reason  of  their  ministrations 
— persuasive,  illuminating,  and  instructive — in  remov¬ 
ing  hindrances  to  openings  among  native  races,  and 
in  promoting  an  interchange  of  outgoing  and  incoming 
commodities?  If  it  can  be  shown  with  reasonable 
clearness  that  even  indirectly  the  influence  of  mis¬ 
sions  has  been  helpful  in  these  respects,  should  we 
not  frankly  credit  the  missionary  enterprise  with  a 
share  in  bringing  about  favorable  conditions  which 
have  manifestly  proved  a  benefit  and  an  incentive  to 
commerce  ? 


Commerce  and  Missions 


3 


It  will  not  escape  the  thoughtful  student 

THAT  IT  IS  THE  PROGRESSIVE  NATIVE  RACES  WHICH  IN¬ 
VITE  COMMERCE,  AND  OFFER  EVER  ENLARGING  SCOPE  TO 

its  activities.  Education  gives  an  inquiring  outward 
vision  to  provincial  minds,  and  calls  for  the  best  the 
world  can  bring  to  it  of  the  material  facilities  and  the 
industrial  achievements  of  the  higher  civilizations.  It 
is  confessedly  the  missionary  who  has  put  to  school 
the  backward  native  races  of  the  world,  and  has  in¬ 
spired  them  with  desires  for  higher  living,  and  led 
them  to  a  finer  appreciation  of  the  better  things  of 
civilization.  International  intercourse  and  good  un¬ 
derstanding  manifestly  promoted  by  missions  bespeak 
commercial  interchange,  while  trade  is  favored  and 
advanced  by  all  that  missions  are  doing  to  establish 
inter-racial  rapprochement  throughout  the  earth.  The 
services  of  the  missionary  as  a  pioneer  explorer,  and 
a  promoter  of  industrial  missions,  has  blazed  a 
pathway  for  commerce.  The  merchant  often  reaps  a 
harvest  in  trade  where  the  missionary  has  previously 
sown  the  seeds  of  ethical,  social,  and  economic  trans¬ 
formation.  In  this  general  sense  the  making  of  a 
broader  and  finer  national  life  becomes  the  guarantee 
of  enlarged  commercial  intercourse.  A  study  of  the 
growth  of  trade  in  the  countries  of  the  Far  East  will 
show  that  it  has  generally  been  contemporaneous  with 
missionary  progress,  which  has  manifestly  had  a  part 
to  play — not  often  conspicuous,  indeed,  but  no  less 
real  in  its  promotion  and  development. 

For  over  a  century  the  modern  missionary  move¬ 
ment  has  been  quietly  at  work,  vitalizing  the  dormant 
life  of  backward  continents.  Little  attention  has  been 
given  to  it  by  the  great  preoccupied  world,  and  some 
have  even  condemned  the  varied  services  which  mis¬ 
sions  have  rendered  in  distant  regions  as  useless 


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Commerce  and  Missions 


waste.  Some  have  even  ventured  to  berate  the  who,.: 
missionary  enterprise  as  an  impertinent  intrusion,  and 
it  has  been  made  the  sport  of  supercilious  critics,  and 
in  some  quarters  it  has  even  been  regarded  as  a 
troublesome  handicap  to  plans  of  commercial  and 
political  exploitation.  Yet  all  this  time  missions  have 
been  quietly  and  patiently  toiling  for  the  introduction 
of  a  better  life,  a  larger  outlook,  finer  moral  standards, 
a  higher  intelligence,  and  a  fuller  preparation  of  great 
races  for  a  swiftly  approaching  era  of  social,  indus¬ 
trial,  political,  and  commercial  progress,  which  has 
already  announced  itself  as  a  great  historic  turning- 
point  in  the  progress  of  mankind.  These  great  races 
among  which  this  quiet  ministry  of  uplift  and  trans¬ 
formation  has  been  going  on  may  be  after  all  children 
of  destiny  in  the  world’s  history.  No  one  can  venture 
to  predict  the  career  which  awaits  the  great  nations 
of  the  East  when  they  have  found  themselves,  and 
have  eagerly  entered  upon  the  inheritance  of  the  riches 
which  the  discoveries,  inventions,  and  achievements  of 
Western  civilization  have  made  ready  for  them  to 
appropriate  and  use. 

Do  WE  REALIZE  WHAT  A  STIMULUS  TO  COMMERCE 
IS  THE  SPREAD  OF  INTELLIGENCE  FOR  WHICH  MISSIONS 
HAVE  BE£N  SPONSORS  DURING  LONG  AND  OBSCURE  YEARS 

of  patient  labor?  Commerce  may  be  said  to  depend 
for  its  success  not  only  upon  favoring  economic  con¬ 
ditions,  but  upon  certain  mental  gifts  and  training 
suited  to  promote  business  interchange.  Some  of  this 
mental  training  pertains  to  the  individual,  and  some 
to  the  status  of  society.  Commerce  does  not  depend 
for  its  prosperity  simply  upon  the  existence  of  good 
facilities  for  transportation,  and  wise,  safe  methods 
of  financial  exchange,  useful  as  these  may  be,  but 
where  it  is  to  be  introduced  among  inferior  races 


Commerce  and  Missions 


o 


there  must  be  also  a  certain  measure  of  receptivity  on 
the  part  of  those  among  whom  it  is  sought  to  estab¬ 
lish  a  market.  There  must  be  a  certain  responsive 
spirit  of  enterprise  in  those  whose  trade  is  sought,  a 
degree  of  intelligence  and  insight  as  to  the  advantages 
offered,  a  recognition  of  the  superior  quality  of  the 
wares  proffered,  a  capacity  to  appreciate  and  enjoy 
new  things,  a  measure  of  dissatisfaction  with  the 
status  of  a  rude  and  savage  environment — in  short, 
an  all-round  awakening  to  a  new  and  broader  life, 
and  an  aroused  consciousness  of  the  existence  of  an 
outside  world,  with  its  abounding  supply  of  delectable 
and  useful  commodities,  desirable  for  their  intrinsic 
worth  and  their  fitness  to  satisfy  the  natural  cravings 
of  culture  and  quickened  lives.  In  the  light  of  these 
considerations,  it  becomes  a  question  whether  com¬ 
merce  itself  might  not  wisely  invest  in  missions,  on 
behalf  of  its  own  interests,  since  education,  social 
uplift,  and  mental  receptivity,  are  everywhere  the 
completement  of  that  new  and  broadened  life  which 
missions  introduce,  and  are  therefore  of  undoubted 
value  in  opening  the  way  for  commercial  and  national 
advancement. 

It  becomes,  therefore,  a  function — in  large  part 
an  unconscious  function — of  missions  to  create  condi¬ 
tions  favorable  to  commerce.  Their  manifest  tendency 
to  stimulate  the  mind,  to  arouse  energy,  to  quicken 
ambition,  to  bring  native  races  into  a  sympathetic  at¬ 
titude  toward  civilization,  and  to  widen  their  knowl¬ 
edge  of  the  world  and  its  wonders,  makes  the  ministry 
of  missions  helpful  in  promoting  commercial  inter¬ 
course.  A  missionary  has  put  it  concisely  and  sug¬ 
gestively  in  the  remark:  “The  first  call  of  a  convert 
from  heathenism  is  for  clean  clothes,  and  a  better 
house.”  Clean  clothing  is  suggestive  of  a  long  list 


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Commerce  and  Missions 


of  textiles,  and  a  better  house  implies  the  importation 
of  a  cargo  of  industrial  products.  Native  races  that 
accept  Christianity  almost  invariably  increase  their 
imports.  It  has  been  estimated  that  English  missions 
promote  trade  to  the  value  of  ten  pounds  for  every 
pound  of  outlay  expended  in  their  founding  and 
support.  The  significance  of  this  to  the  United  States 
is  obvious  when  we  consider  that  within  thirty  years 
from  the  fourth  place  among  the  nations  as  regards 
exports,  we  advanced  in  1905  to  the  first  place  among 
all  the  nations  as  an  exporting  country,  although  of 
late  we  have  lost  slightly  the  primacy  of  that  year. 

As  a  typical  illustration  of  the  general  remarks  of 
preceding  paragraphs,  let  us  look  at  one  of  the  prac¬ 
tical  results  of  missionary  education.  It  naturally 
creates  a  demand  for  literature.  Literature,  in  its 
turn,  calls  for  presses,  and  all  the  facilities  for  print¬ 
ing,  electrotyping,  binding,  and  distributing  of  books, 
both  large  and  small,  as  well  as  periodicals,  news¬ 
papers,  circulars,  pamphlets,  and  advertisements,  in 
all  their  variety.  From  the  seed  which  missionary 
education  plants,  unknown  millions  of  prospective 
readers  will  soon  call — are  even  now  beginning  to  call 
loudly — ,  through  commercial  channels,  for  presses, 
and  machinery  to  run  them,  as  well  as  for  paper,  type, 
ink,  electrotyping,  cutting,  and  type-setting  machines, 
engraving  and  illustrating  facilities,  and  every  other 
addenda  and  necessary  tool  of  journalism  and  the 
publishing-  business  in  general.  We  are  accustomed 
to  honor  pioneers  in  every  department  of  enterprise; 
the  missionary  is  surely  entitled  to  be  ranked  as  such 
in  this  business  of  awakening  potential  brain  power, 
and  stimulating  the  hunger  of  the  mind  for  those  in¬ 
tellectual  supplies  which  require  an  extensive  impor- 


Commerce  and  Missions 


7 


tation  of  facilities,  and  the  establishment  of  large  in¬ 
dustrial  plants  to  furnish  them.  We  might  refer  here 
also  to  the  stimulus  given  to  this  department  of  trade 
outside  of  the  direct  efforts  of  missionaries  to  supply 
this  intellectual  pabulum.  The  Asiatic  has  a  keen 
scent  for  new  business  which  is  profitable.  The  whole 
enterprise  of  printing,  quite  outside  of  the  circle  of 
missions,  has  entered  upon  an  era  of  expansion  and 
growth,  especially  in  China,  where  journalism  and 
literary  production  are  in  a  state  of  phenomenal 
efflorescence.  In  so  far  as  missionary  education  has 
had  its  influence  in  awakening  China,  it  has  also  been 
of  service  in  promoting  the  commercial  activity  in¬ 
volved  in  the  intellectual  renaissance  of  that  great 
nation. 

The  typical  illustration  given  in  the  preceding 
paragraph  might  be  multiplied  and  traced  out  in 
many  other  directions.  “The  Gospel  has  added  a 
second  story  to  our  houses,”  remarked  a  mission 
convert  in  Eastern  Asia.  The  statement  might  be 
supplemented  by  a  reference  to  the  glass  windows, 
the  kerosene  lamps,  the  stoves,  the  table-ware,  the 
furniture,  the  pictures,  the  plumbing,  the  sewing- 
machines,  and  the  new  style  of  clothing,  which  are  all 
quite  likely  to  be  the  addenda  of  the  added  story. 
There  is  surely  a  hidden  affinity  between  the  mar¬ 
velous  commercial  expansion  of  the  present  age, 
planning  to  take  possession  of  all  continents,  and  the 
enterprise  of  missions,  aiming  at  the  enlightenment 
and  moral  transformation  of  all  races.  There  must  be 
a  deeply  significant  coincidence  in  the  commercial  stir 
and  expansion  of  the  times,  and  the  vivifying  touch 
of  missionary  enterprise,  which  is  awakening  dormant 
races  to  behold  the  shining  of  a  great  light,  and  to 
hail  the  dawn  of  a  brightening  day. 


8 


Commerce  and  Missions 


Henry  Venn,  a  distinguished  Secretary  of  the 
Church  Missionary  Society,  nearly  half  a  century  ago 
estimated  that,  “When  a  missionary  had  been  abroad 
twenty  years  he  was  worth  ten  thousand  pounds  a 
year  to  British  commerce.”  It  is  a  little  over  fifty 
years  (1857)  since  Livingstone  remarked  in  the 
Senate  House  at  Cambridge  University:  “I  go  back 
to  Africa  to  try  to  make  an  open  path  for  commerce 
and  Christianity.”  That  “open  path  for  commerce,” 
applying  the  expression  to  the  entire  African  Con¬ 
tinent,  has  already  led  to  markets  of  gigantic  promise, 
which  in  the  estimation  of  some  optimistic  judges 
have  even  more  prospective  value  than  those  of 
Eastern  Asia,  since  Japan  and  China  may  ere  long 
compete  with  the  West,  while  Africa  in  all  prob¬ 
ability  will  remain  for  generations  chiefly  a  consumer. 

Surely  the  day  of  Africa’s  commercial  as  well 
as  political  renaissance  has  dawned  in  a  flood  of  light 
athwart  the  entire  continent.  The  immense  coast  line 
of  Africa  offers  ready  access  to  the  ships  of  all 
nations.  Railways  by  the  score,  finished  even  now  to 
the  extent  of  many  thousand  miles,  are  pushing  into 
the  interior,  while  rivers  and  lakes  are  traversed  by 
a  constantly  increasing  fleet  of  steamers.  The  “Cape 
to  Cairo”  line,  the  Congo  Railway,  and  that  wonder¬ 
ful  line  into  the  heart  of  Uganda,  are  prophetic  of 
an  era  of  railway  expansion  of  continental  propor¬ 
tions.  “This  is  our  victory,”  commerce  doubtless  will 
say,  and  this  may  be  conceded  in  large  measure;  but 
the  influence  and  helpfulness  of  missions  as  factors 
in  the  transformation  cannot  be  justly  ignored.  All 
the  facilities  for  commerce  may  exist  in  certain  sec¬ 
tions  of  the  continent,  and  yet  the  developments  of 
trade  may  be  comparatively  meagre.  The  native  com¬ 
munity  may  be  still  inert  and  unambitious,  and  the 


Commerce  and  Missions 


9 


old  list  of  goods,  and  the  childish  trinkets  of  barter 
meanwhile  satisfy  every  requirement.  “Tools  are  not 
bought,”  wrote  the  late  Dr.  Grenfell  of  the  Baptist 
Mission  on  the  Congo,  concerning  certain  interior 
regions,  “because  no  one  has  taught  the  people  their 
use,  and  the  old  style  of  temporary  hut  remains,  in 
which  the  appointments  and  furniture  of  civilization 
would  be  absurdly  out  of  place,  even  if  there  were 
any  desire  to  possess  them.  Nor  does  native  energy, 
as  a  rule,  look  beyond  immediate  and  pressing  wants, 
and  thus  the  fine  wares  of  commerce  possess  little  or 
no  attraction.  Trade  lags,  and  the  old  times  with 
their  simple  wants  and  primitive  conditions  drag 
themselves  along  from  generation  to  generation.” 
In  other  localities,  however,  where  missionary  enter¬ 
prise  has  entered,  and  its  quickening  influences  have 
been  felt,  a  change  comes  over  the  native  attitude 
toward  civilization,  and  all  that  it  stands  for  and  in¬ 
troduces.  Commerce  soon  recognizes  the  meaning  of 
this  educational  and  economic  transformation,  and 
is  apt  quickly  to  avail  itself  of  the  opportunities  thus 
secured. 

It  may  seem  somewhat  imaginative  to  connect 
these  great  railway  achievements  to  which  we  have 
referred  even  in  a  remote  way  with  missions,  and  yet 
it  is  curious  to  note  that  so  far  back  as  1860,  at  the 
time  of  the  consecration  of  Bishop  Mackenzie  as  a 
missionary  to  what  is  now  the  Nyasaland  Protec¬ 
torate,  Bishop  Gray  designated  the  work  entrusted  to 
the  new  Bishop  as  “the  first  link  in  a  chain  of  mis¬ 
sions  which  should  stretch  one  day  from  Cape  Town 
to  Cairo.”  Livingstone  was  a  pioneer  figure  in  that 
section  of  Africa  even  at  an  earlier  date,  and  since 
then  English,  Scotch,  Continental,  and  American 
missions,  all  along  that  proposed  route,  have  been 


10 


Commerce  and  Missions 


contributing  appreciable  aid  in  opening  the  way  and 
building  the  moral  and  social  road-bed  for  the  “Cape 
to  Cairo”  express,  which  now  already  rolls  northward 
until  it  crosses  the  Zambesi  at  Victoria  Falls,  and 
approaches  from  the  north  toward  the  boundary  lines 
of  Uganda. 

The  magnificent  achievement  of  the  Uganda 
Railway  must  be  regarded  of  course  as  one  of  the 
colossal  ventures  of  British  imperialism,  but  back  of 
the  railway  is  that  initial  missionary  occupation  of 
Uganda,  in  1877,  where  a  group  of  devoted  men  and 
women  lived  for  a  period  of  thirteen  years,  without 
British  protection.  It  was  Mackay  who  first  sug¬ 
gested  the  (at  that  time)  almost  unthinkable  project 
of  “a  railway  from  the  coast  to  the  lake,”  and  in 
1891,  when  the  Imperial  British  East  Africa  Com¬ 
pany  proposed  to  evacuate  Uganda,  and  the  British 
Government  hesitated  as  to  whether  it  was  worth 
while  to  assume  the  responsible  control,  it  was  the 
financial  subsidy  of  forty  thousand  pounds  placed  in 
the  treasury  of  the  Imperial  British  East  Africa  Com¬ 
pany — in  large  part  by  the  supporters  of  missions  in 
England — which  tided  over  the  situation  for  a  year, 
and  delayed  the  date  assigned  for  the  evacuation  until 
March  31,  1893.  The  patrons  of  the  Church  Mis¬ 
sionary  Society  advanced  sixteen  thousand  pounds  of 
this  amount,  and  their  enthusiasm,  backed  by  the 
moral  pressure  of  the  friends  of  missions  in  England, 
under  the  leadership  of  the  Church  Missionary  So¬ 
ciety,  proved  an  influential  factor  in  securing  the 
appointment  of  the  Government  Commission  of  In¬ 
quiry,  under  Sir  Gerald  Portal,  in  1892,  to  determine 
the  best  solution  of  the  problem  of  Uganda.  The 
result  of  these  tentative  inquiries  on  the  part  of  the 
Government  was  the  establishment  of  a  British  Pro- 


Commerce  and  Missions 


11 


tectorate,  declared  in  1894,  and  this  was  followed  by 
the  Uganda  Railway  opened  in  1902,  from  Mombasa 
to  Port  Florence,  on  the  Victoria  Nyanza.  The 
building  of  this  railway  involved  an  outlay  by  the 
British  Government  of  £5,550,000,  or  about  $27,- 
700,000.  It  is  584  miles  in  length,  and  scales  moun¬ 
tain  heights  at  an  altitude  of  over  eight  thousand  feet. 
In  his  report  advocating  the  establishment  of  a 
British  Protectorate,  Sir  Gerald  Portal  stated  that  he 
considered  Uganda  to  be  the  key  to  the  Nile  Valley, 
securing  entrance  as  it  does  to  some  of  the  richest 
sections  of  Central  Africa,  and  holding  out,  there¬ 
fore,  the  promise  of  profitable  commerce.  The  mis¬ 
sionary  devotion  of  that  initial  dash  into  Uganda, 
those  heroic  years  of  lonely  and  perilous  missionary 
occupation,  and  that  alert  and  strenuous  rally  of  the 
friends  of  the  Mission  at  the  critical  hour,  should 
count  for  much  in  any  fair  and  just  estimate 
of  the  historic  forces  to  which  the  credit  of  the 
present  outcome  in  Uganda  belongs.  The  commercial 
prospects  of  that  portion  of  Central  Africa  and  its 
large  outlying  regions  have  surely  been  greatly  im¬ 
proved  by  the  fact  that  the  missionary  type  of  civili¬ 
zation  was  first  introduced,  and  with  its  enlighten¬ 
ing  and  educating  influences  has  gained  a  powerful 
hold  on  the  people.  This  fact  will  do  much  to  safe¬ 
guard  the  best  interests  of  commerce. 

In  the  Nyasaland  Protectorate,  around  Lake 
Nyasa,  we  find  that  further  credit  may  be  accorded 
to  missions,  in  view  of  the  encouragement  and  prac¬ 
tical  stimulus  which  they  have  given  to  commerce. 
It  was  by  this  route  that  Livingstone’s  “open  path” 
entered  the  continent,  and  in  his  own  haunts  around 
Lake  Nyasa  trade  expansion  has  been  marked. 
Blantyre  has  become  the  commercial  centre  of  British 


12 


Commerce  and  Missions 


Central  Africa,  and  there  is  a  growing  demand  in 
that  region  for  the  trained  and  educated  native  em¬ 
ployees  that  the  educational  and  industrial  depart¬ 
ments  of  the  missions  are  supplying.  It  was  a 
turbulent  and  warlike  region,  and  the  attention  of 
the  natives  was  about  equally  divided  among  war 
and  plunder  and  the  slave-trade.  The  lessons  of 
legitimate  trade  were  learned  from  the  missionary. 
It  was  regarded  as  the  best  preventive  of  destructive 
tribal  feuds,  while  also  providing  a  substitute  for 
the  slave-trade,  and  so  opening  an  easier  and  safer 
way  for  the  natives  to  secure  the  goods  they  ere  long 
craved.  Instead  of  raids,  robbery,  pillage,  the  hor¬ 
rors  of  the  slave-pen,  and  the  traffic  in  human  chat¬ 
tels,  they  were  led  to  cultivate  the  soil,  or  engage  in 
some  harmless  and  honest  line  of  trade,  and  thus  were 
enabled  to  secure  in  the  end,  by  peaceful  and  useful 
industry,  their  reward  of  calico,  beads,  hatchets,  and 
similar  wares,  so  dear  to  the  native  heart.  That 
“dogged  little  band”  of  Scottish  missionaries  were 
unquestionably  the  pioneers  of  legitimate  commerce 
in  Nyasaland,  afterwards  known  as  the  British 
Central  Africa  Protectorate,  but  recently  named  the 
Nyasaland  Protectorate. 

These  initial  trade  movements  soon  became  too 
complex  and  extended  for  missionary  supervision.  It 
was,  moreover,  not  properly  within  that  sphere  of 
service,  and  so  in  response  to  representations  giving 
the  facts  of  the  situation  there  was  formed  as  early 
as  1876,  a  Chartered  Company  in  Scotland,  with  suf¬ 
ficient  capital,  and  the  necessary  organization  to  as¬ 
sume  the  responsible  local  management  of  the  trade, 
and  develop  the  important  traffic  along  productive 
lines.  The  Livingstonia  Central  Africa  Trading  Com- 


Commerce  and  Missions  13 


pany,  better  known  as  the  African  Lakes  Corporation, 
was  the  result,  with  a  layman,  Mr.  James  Stevenson, 
a  devoted  friend  and  supporter  of  missions,  as  its 
Chairman.  This  Company  in  time  introduced 
steamers,  and  so  more  speedily  built  up  trade.  In 
1879  its  only  steam  vessel  in  the  region  was  the 
“Lady  Nyasa.”  It  has  now  a  whole  fleet  of  steamers 
navigating  the  Lake.  At  the  beginning  of  1875  there 
was  not  a  steamer  on  either  Lake  Nyasa  or  Lake 
Tanganyika,  but  in  October  of  that  year  the  little 
“Bala,”  with  a  Scottish  missionary  at  the  helm,  entered 
the  waters  of  Lake  Nyasa.  Gathered  on  its  deck 
were  the  members  of  the  Livingstonia  Mission,  and 
they  were  so  impressed  with  the  significance  of  the 
incident  that  they  engaged  in  a  brief  season  of 
worship.  Steam  was  shut  off,  and  the  vessel  floated 
calmly  and  silently  on  the  waters,  while  the  noble 
Psalm,  “All  people  that  on  earth  do  dwell,”  rang  out 
as  though  to  consecrate  the  achievement  to  the  glory 
of  God.  In  1893  the  combined  steam  fleets  of  the 
two  lakes  numbered  nearly  forty  vessels.  The  trade 
which  was  established  at  that  time  was  Christian 
trade,  free  from  greed  and  fraud,  and  guiltless  of 
gin  and  other  deadly  products.  Steamers  now  traverse 
the  neighboring  lakes,  and  navigate  the  rivers  to  the 
coast,  where  at  Chinde  they  meet  the  Ocean  Liners 
of  British,  German,  Portuguese,  and  other  companies. 
The  railway  from  Chiromo  to  Blantyre  is  to-day  com¬ 
pleted,  and  will  no  doubt  ultimately  be  extended  to 
Lake  Nyasa.  In  1907  the  imports  of  the  Nyasaland 
Proctectorate  amounted  to  £242,934,  and  the  exports 
to  £50,247. 

It  would  occupy  too  much  space  to  attempt  to 
trace  in  detail  the  missionary  evidence  of  trade  pros¬ 
perity  in  South  Africa.  It  is  enough  to  say  that  it 


14 


Commerce  and  Missions 


began  under  missionary  tutelage  among  native  tribes. 
In  1870,  the  venerable  Dr.  Moffat  speaking  of  what 
had  occurred  under  his  own  observation,  remarked  on 
this  subject:  “In  former  times  the  natives  could  not 
be  prevailed  upon  to  buy  anything  from  traders  in 
the  shape  of  merchandise,  not  even  so  much  as  a 
pocket-handkerchief.  Such  articles  could  not  be  dis¬ 
posed  of,  as  the  natives  were  not  enlightened  suf¬ 
ficiently  to  appreciate  anything  like  that.  If  they  did 
buy,  it  would  be  only  a  few  trinkets,  or  some  beads, 
but  nothing  of  a  substantial  character  was  ever 
bought.  It  is  not  so  now  (in  1870),  however,  for  no 
less  than  sixty  thousand  pounds  worth  of  British 
manufactures  pass  yearly  into  the  hands  of  the  native 
tribes  near  and  about  Kuruman.” 

About  twenty-five  years  ago,  the  Rev.  James 
Dalzell,  M.D.,  a  Scottish  missionary  in  Natal,  made 
a  careful  computation  that  a  native  kraal  untouched 
by  missions  called  for  imported  goods  to  the  extent 
of  only  two  pounds  annually ;  while  each  educated 
native  Christian  consumed,  or  required,  imports  every 
year  to  the  extent  of  twenty  pounds.  The  Zulu 
Christian  community  at  that  time  represented  an  ag¬ 
gregate  of  eighty  thousand  pounds  on  the  import 
list  of  Natal.  It  is  reported  concerning  Dr.  Philip 
of  the  London  Missionary  Society  that  as  early  as 
1818  he  arranged  with  a  Christian  merchant  to  open 
a  store  in  Bethelsdorp  for  the  purpose  of  awakening 
the  spirit  of  trade,  and  bringing  to  the  attention  of 
the  natives  numerous  useful  and  attractive  articles. 
To  quote  Dr.  Sylvester  Horne,  in  “The  Story  of  the 
L.  M.  S.” :  “The  effect  was  remarkable.  .  .  . 
The  significance  was  that  in  a  very  short  time  the 
whole  aspect  of  Bethelsdorp  underwent  a  change. 
Not  only  were  the  unsightly  huts  replaced  in  many 


Commerce  and  Missions 


15 


instances  by  decent  houses,  but  the  spirit  of  activity 
and  industry  transformed  the  life  of  the  people. 

.  .  .  In  1823  the  village  of  Bethelsdorp  was  paying 
more  than  five  hundred  pounds  a  year  in  taxes  to  the 
Government,  and  buying  five  thousand  pounds  worth 
of  British  goods  every  year.” 

It  must  not  be  forgotten  that  missionary  ex¬ 
ploration  IS  USUALLY  THE  FORERUNNER  OF  TRADE: 
the  discovery  of  native  races  by  missionary  pioneers 
admittedly  opens  the  way  for  commerce,  since  it 
heralds  the  coming  of  the  trader,  gives  the  signal  to 
the  enterprise  of  the  merchant,  and  eventually  does 
much,  not  only  to  insure  his  prosperity,  but  his  safety. 
We  have  a  clear  example  of  this  in  the  island  of 
New  Guinea,  where  missionary  courage  and  devotion 
may  be  said  to  have  opened  the  door  both  to  political 
sovereignty  and  commercial  enterprise.  British, 
Dutch,  and  German  missions  prepared  the  way  for 
the  entrance  of  commerce.  The  total  population  of 
660,000,  of  which  over  one-half  belong  to  British  ter¬ 
ritory,  have  been,  and  still  are,  in  process  of  trans¬ 
formation  from  bestial  savagery  to  civilized  citizen¬ 
ship.  The  line  which  separates  safety  from  peril,  and 
marks  the  limits  of  intelligence  and  order,  dif¬ 
ferentiating  the  sphere  of  trade  from  the  regions  of 
rapine  and  barbarity,  has  been  drawn  for  a  generation 
along  the  frontier  made  by  the  missionary  outposts. 
Generous  official  recognition  of  the  political  value  of 
this  preliminary  service  of  missions  has  been  accorded 
by  the  British  authorities,  and  that  there  has  been 
also  a  commercial  value  is  no  less  apparent.  The 
trade  returns  of  British  New  Guinea,  as  reported  for 
1908,  will  sufficiently  indicate  this.  The  imports  of 
that  year  are  stated  in  the  “Statesman’s  Year  Book,” 
of  1909,  to  be  £94,061,  and  the  exports,  £80,616, 


16 


Commerce  and  Missions 


making  a  total  valuation  of  £174,617,  or  about  $850,- 
000.  The  sum  total  of  trade  in  German  New 
Guinea  in  1907  amounted  to  $268,320,  much  the 
larger  part  of  which  was  in  imports.  This  is  com¬ 
merce  in  miniature,  one  may  say,  but  it  represents  the 
advance  of  a  little  over  a  quarter  of  a  century,  in 
a  land  which  for  ages  had  been  given  over  to  the  most 
dismal  and  menacing  savagery. 

There  are  numerous  islands  in  the  Pacific  that 
have  been  thus  redeemed  from  barbarism,  and  brought 
within  commercial  touch  of  civilization  by  pioneer 
missionary  occupation.  With  the  acceptance  of  Chris¬ 
tian  teachings  the  natives  of  many  of  these  islands 
have  turned  from  their  savagery,  and  given  them¬ 
selves  to  agricultural  and  industrial  pursuits.  Many 
of  the  centres  of  missionary  work  in  the  South  Pacific 
have  become  also  centres  of  trade. 

Services  like  these  it  will  be  acknowledged  are  in 
the  interests  of  commerce.  Let  missionaries  through¬ 
out  the  world  retire  from  their  service  among  non- 
Christian  races,  and  it  is  almost  certain  that  many 
times  the  amount  it  costs  to  support  them  would  soon 
be  added  to  the  war  budgets  of  the  world. 

Credit  must  be  given  to  missions  for  the 

ESTABLISHMENT  OF  INDUSTRIAL  TRAINING  IN  MANY 

fields.  The  Basel  Mission  has  a  notable  record  in 
the  industrial  and  technical  training  of  its  converts. 
In  some  prominent  mission  fields  the  industrial  train¬ 
ing  has  assumed  such  proportions  that  it  has  been 
found  necessary  to  commit  it  to  the  administration  of 
business  corporations  established  under  the  direc¬ 
tion  and  supervision  of  the  friends  of  missions  in 
Western  lands.  An  example  is  the  “Uganda  Com¬ 
pany,  Limited,”  organized  in  1903,  and  which  now 
pays  a  moderate  dividend,  the  object  of  the  enterprise 


Commerce  and  Missions 


17 


being  to  assume  the  business  industries  which  before 
that  date  had  been  conducted  by  the  Church  Mis¬ 
sionary  Society  in  the  Uganda  Protectorate.  The 
“East  African  Industries,  Limited,”  is  a  similar  com¬ 
pany,  organized  in  1906,  on  the  East  Coast.  In  New 
Guinea  we  find  a  like  enterprise,  entitled,  “Papuan 
Industries,  Limited,”  the  object  of  which  is  to  facili¬ 
tate  the  growth  and  prosperity  of  the  industrial  efforts 
previously  organized  by  the  London  Missionary 
Society.  The  Company  is  now  engaged  in  the  culti¬ 
vation  of  plantations  producing  cocoanut,  rubber, 
cocoa,  coffee,  and  cotton,  and  in  the  lumber  trade, 
which  is  a  valuable  business  in  New  Guinea.  The 
“Scottish  Mission  Industries  Company”  has  been  in¬ 
corporated,  to.  assume  the  management  of  business 
interests  in  India  which  have  quite  outgrown  the 
initiative  of  the  United  Free  Church  of  Scotland. 
Within  recent  years  a  group  of  Industrial  Missions 
has  sprung  up,  as  the  Zambesi  Industrial  Mission,  the 
Nyasa  Industrial  Mission,  and  the  Baptist  Industrial 
Mission  of  Scotland,  all  of  which  have  their  field 
of  operation  in  British  Central  Africa.  Industrial 
features  have  been  made  a  specialty  also  by  the  East 
Coast  Mission  of  the  English  Friends,  on  the  island 
of  Pemba,  and  by  a  similar  enterprise  conducted  by 
the  American  Friends  in  British  East  Africa,  among 
the  Kavirondo  people.  The  General  Synod  of  the 
Lutheran  Church  has  an  extensive  industrial  plant 
on  the  West  Coast.  Other  enterprises  of  a  like 
nature  might  be  referred  to,  mostly  in  various  locali¬ 
ties  of  Africa.  The  .  American  Methodist  Missions 
in  Mashonaland,  Rhodesia,  under  the  supervision  of 
Bishop  Hartzell,  and  those  of  the  American  Board 
in  the  same  region,  are  worthy  of  note.  The  benefits 
of  industrial  training  among  uncivilized  races  can 


18 


Commerce  and  Missions 


hardly  be  challenged.  A  large  and  interesting  field 
of  missionary  operations  spreads  out  before  us  in 
this  connection,  the  extent  and  the  moral,  as  well  as 
commercial  significance  of  which  are  but  little  known. 

The  influence  of  missions  has  been  also 

HELPFUL  TO  COMMERCE,  BY  REASON  OF  THE  DIGNITY 
IT  HAS  GIVEN  TO  LABOR,  AND  THE  EMPHASIS  WHICH 
IT  HAS  LAID  UPON  THE  REWARDS  OF  FRUGALITY  AND 

thrift.  Christianity  has  infused  a  conscience  into 
the  spirit  of  common  labor,  and  has  imparted  a  cer¬ 
tain  sacredness  to  the  ordinary  duties  of  life.  The 
early  Christian  missionaries  of  Europe  were  the 
pioneers  of  industry,  as  well  as  of  religion.  It  was 
they  who  introduced  the  ideal  of  peaceful  and  in¬ 
dustrious  toil,  in  settled  homes,  as  an  offset  to  the 
wild  life  of  adventure  and  brigandage  which  was  the 
ambition  of  early  barbarism.  Montalembert,  in  his 
“Monks  of  the  West/’  declares  that  the  “ensign  and 
emblazonry  of  the  entire  history  of  the  monks  during 
those  early  ages  was,  ‘Cruce  et  Aratro/  ”  In  the  same 
way,  in  the  environment  of  modern  savagery,  mis¬ 
sions  have  studiously  striven  to  ennoble  honest  toil, 
and  to  deliver  it  from  the  contempt  which,  according 
to  the  notions  of  untamed  tribes,  seemed  to  be  at¬ 
tached  to  it.  They  have  steadily  sought  to  be  “the 
moral  regenerator  of  labor,  wherever  it  is,  and  its 
moral  founder,  wherever  it  is  not.” 

A  glance  at  missions  in  the  South  Seas  and  the 
African  Continent  will  yield  telling  illustrations  of 
this.  War,  feasting,  hilarity,  and  idleness  were  magic 
words  with  the  average  native  early  in  the  present 
century,  but  the  first  lesson  of  the  missionary  was 
an  inspiration  to  better  things.  It  is  not  too  much 
to  say  that  the  industrial  results  of  missions  in  the 
South  Pacific  may  take  rank  as  one  of  the  most  unique 


Commerce  and  Missions 


19 


social  and  economic  transformations  that  the  world 
has  ever  witnessed.  The  whole  current  and  trend 
of  native  ideals  have  been  changed,  and  so  it  may  be 
said  that  the  African  has  learned  the  very  alphabet 
of  frugality,  thrift,  and  settled  industry  from  Chris¬ 
tian  missions.  The  story  of  Lovedale  in  South 
Africa,  where  that  magnificent  institution  of  the 
United  Free  Church  of  Scotland,  presided  over  so 
many  years  by  Dr.  James  Stewart,  is  situated,  is  a 
veritable  romance  of  missionary  achievement.  No 
one  in  the  home  churches  can  realize,  and  the  mis¬ 
sionaries  themselves  hardly  appreciate,  the  immense 
social  changes  in  the  direction  of  orderly  and  useful 
living,  which  have  been  inaugurated  in  hundreds  of 
African  communities.  The  warrior  has  been  turned 
into  the  modern  plowman,  and  his  idle  hands  have 
been  taught  to  use  modern  tools  of  precision.  Plows 
which,  in  the  dramatic  language  of  a  native  admirer, 
are  said  to  “do  the  work,  of  ten  wives,”  have  broken 
furrows  of  civilization  in  African  society.  One  of  the 
triumphs  of  missions  in  Africa  may  be  said  to  be  the 
conversion  of  the  native  “from  the  condition  of  a 
loafing  savage  to  that  of  a  laborer.”  Industry,  let 
it  be  noted,  is  not  the  natural  bent  of  an  African’s 
desire.  His  ideal  is  summed  up  in  idleness,  ques¬ 
tionable  amusement,  and  war.  It  becomes,  therefore, 
no  common  victory  to  turn  him  into  an  economic 
producer,  and  make  him  an  honest  toiler  among  his 
fellows. 

In  ways  both  direct  and  indirect  missions 

MAY  BE  SAID  TO  HAVE  COMMENDED  IN  MANY  FIELDS 
NEW  STANDARDS  OF  COMMERCIAL  INTEGRITY.  They 
have  wrought  decisive  changes  in  the  ancient  heathen 
conceptions  of  wealth,  by  attaching  moral  ideas  of 
stewardship  to  riches.  They  have  everywhere  sought 


20 


Commerce  and  Missions 


to  exemplify  and  accentuate  simple,  straightforward 
honesty  as  the  best  commercial  policy.  The  mis¬ 
sionary  the  world  over  is,  with  hardly  an  exception, 
recognized  and  acknowledged  to  be  absolutely  trust¬ 
worthy,  and  this  reputation  for  honesty  has  become 
identified  in  large  measure  with  Christian  converts. 
It  has  been  made  a  study  in  some  mission  fields  to 
commend  Christianity  by  means  of  trade  based  on 
Christian  principles.  Among  primitive  races  mis¬ 
sionaries  have  in  some  localities  experimentally  in¬ 
troduced  an  entirely  new  system  of  barter  and  trade. 
In  India  one  of  the  lamentable  features  of  the  financial 
status  of  natives  is  an  almost  universal  condition  of 
debt,  with  a  proneness  to  incur  it.  Every  one  seems  to 
like  to  live  on  credit,  and  the  result  in  time  brings 
distress,  and  often  disaster.  The  mission  literature  of 
India  has  dealt  strenuously  with  this  subject,  ad¬ 
vocating  the  wiser  method  of  avoiding  debt  and  re¬ 
straining  false  pride,  and  thus  relieving  the  people 
and  their  posterity  from  heavy  burdens.  In  this 
sphere  of  business  morals,  and  in  the  advocacy  of 
strict  integrity,  missions  have  found  an  opportunity 
of  ministering  to  the  well-being  of  society,  which  they 
have  not  failed  to  improve. 

It  may  be  asked,  is  there  any  clear  evidence  that 
missions  have  aided  in  the  development  of  trade  and 
commerce  with  the  outer  world?  It  is,  of  course, 
conceded  that  missions  were  not  established  for  the 
purpose  of  promoting  trade.  No  missionary  is  sent 
out  as  an  emissary  of  commerce,  or  as  the  traveling 
agent  or  drummer  of  the  merchant,  nor  is  it  fit  or 
becoming  that  he  should  give  his  direct  attention  to 
this  special  line  of  service.  It  would  be  impossible 
for  him  to  do  so  without  doing  injustice  to  the  peculiar 
sacredness  of  his  calling,  and  ignoring  to  his  own 


Commerce  and  Missions 


21 


discredit  the  higher  responsibilities  of  his  office. 
Whatever  missions  may  accomplish  in  this  sphere 
must  therefore  be  regarded  as  manifestly  a  matter 
of  indirection.  It  is  not  claimed  that  this  indirect 
service  to  commerce  is  a  very  conspicuous  or  as¬ 
sertive  function  of  missions.  It  may  be  looked  upon 
by  some  as  rather  negative,  and  at  times  hardly  dis¬ 
coverable  in  its  action,  yet  it  can  be  traced,  and  a  dis¬ 
cerning  student  can  discover  it.  It  has  even  been 
vouched  for  by  some  distinguished  anthropological 
and  economic  students  in  Europe,  who  have  advo¬ 
cated  government  support  of  missions  among  nature- 
peoples,  in  the  interests  of  civilization  and  commerce. 
Among  diplomats  and  government  officials,  moreover, 
there  are  signs  of  a  hearty  appreciation  of  the  com¬ 
mercial  benefits  of  missions.  A  British  consul  in 
China,  in  dealing  with  this  matter,  observed  in  his 
report :  “How  far  the  policy  of  opening  mission 
stations  in  remote  parts  of  the  province  may  be  pru¬ 
dent  is  an  open  question,  but  undoubtedly  our  com¬ 
mercial  interests  are  advanced  by  the  presence  of  mis¬ 
sionaries  in  districts  never  yet  visited  by  merchants.” 
The  late  Charles  Denby,  for  many  years  our  Am¬ 
bassador  to  China,  has  expressed  his  conviction  that 
the  missionary  has  exerted  a  notable  influence  in 
promoting  trade. 

We  may  not  be  able  to  trace  the  commercial 
fruitage  of  missions  in  the  case  of  great  Asiatic 
nations  as  distinctly  as  we  have  found  it  possible  to 
do  in  connection  with  primitive  races  that  have  strug¬ 
gled  out  of  barbarism  under  the  tutelage  and  person¬ 
al  supervision  of  the  missionary,  yet  an  underlying 
connection  can  surely  be  established,  according  to  the 
testimony  of  those  who  have  had  the  best  opportunity 
for  observation.  It  is  difficult  to  gauge  just  that  per- 


22 


Commerce  and  Missions 


centage  of  stimulus  which  has  been  given  to  the  now 
awakened  empire  of  China  by  the  ministry  of  mis¬ 
sionaries,  yet  it  is  certain  that  much  of  the  dissemina¬ 
tion  of  modern  knowledge  throughout  the  Far  East 
has  been  due  to  missionary  enterprise,  and  moreover, 
the  services  of  Morrison,  GutzlafT,  Bridgman,  Parker, 
Williams,  and  Martin,  in  the  negotiation  of  Chinese 
treaties,  and  their  personal  influence  over  men  of 
affairs  in  China,  have  promoted  the  interests  of  com¬ 
merce,  as  well  as  those  of  international  amity. 

The  testimony  of  men  who  have  lived  or  visited 
and  journeyed  in  the  East  may  be  quoted  in  this  con¬ 
nection.  Sir  Chentung  Liang  Cheng,  a  former  Chinese 
Minister  to  the  United  States,  writes  that  “the  mis¬ 
sionaries  have  penetrated  far  into  the  heart  of  the 
country,  and  have  invariably  been  the  frontiersmen 
for  trade  and  commerce.”  The  late  Mr.  Denby,  who 
has  been  already  quoted,  has  stated  that  the  fact 
that  “commerce  follows  the  missionary  has  been  in¬ 
dubitably  proved  in  China.”  The  Honorable  F.  S. 
Stratton,  formerly  Collector  of  the  Port  of  San 
Francisco,  on  his  return  from  a  journey  of  three 
months  in  China,  Japan,  and  the  Philippines,  declared 
that,  “commercially  speaking,  the  missionaries  are  the 
advance  agents  for  American  commercial  enterprises, 
and  if  business  men  only  understood  this  matter,  they 
would  assist  rather  than  discourage  evangelistic  work 
in  the  East.”  During  a  visit  of  Bishop  E.  R.  Hendrix 
to  China,  he  met  a  wealthy  English  merchant  in 
Shanghai,  whose  convictions  on  this  subject  were  pro¬ 
nounced,  and  clearly  expressed.  The  Bishop  quotes 
him  as  saying;  “We  find  that  our  very  commerce  in 
China  is  based  upon  the  missionary.  He  precedes  us 
into  the  interior,  and  becomes  the  means  of  our  com¬ 
munications  with  the  natives.”  A  correspondent  of 


Commerce  and  Missions 


23 


the  London  Standard  has  written:  “In  almost  every 
instance  of  new  trade  centres,  new  settlements  and 
ports  being  opened  in  the  Far  East,  the  missionary 
pioneer  has  been  the  first  student  and  interpreter, 
geologist,  astronomer,  historian,  and  schoolmaster,  and 
his  example  and  instruction  have  first  aroused  the  de¬ 
sire  for  those  commercial  wares  of  ours  which  sub¬ 
sequently  drew  forth  the  traders.”  In  the  initial  at¬ 
tempts  to  build  railways  in  China  it  was  found  com¬ 
paratively  easy  to  do  this  if  fhe  route  had  been  previ¬ 
ously  occupied  by  mission  stations,  but  that  there  was 
prompt  trouble  if  the  attempt  was  made  where  no 
missionary  influence  had  been  exerted.  The  Rev.  W. 
A.  Cornaby,  for  many  years  a  resident  missionary  in 
China,  is  quoted  as  saying:  “The  opening  of  China 
was  desirable  first  of  all  in  the  interests  of  the  king¬ 
dom  of  God,  and  then  in  the  interests  of  commerce; 
but  the  missionary  must  precede  the  trader,  and  com¬ 
merce  must  be  on  Christian  lines.”  These  carefully 
formed  opinions  of  men  of  intelligence  and  character 
might  be  multiplied,  and  they  are  full  of  significance, 
in  view  of  the  rapid  and  enormous  extension  of  com¬ 
merce  in  the  Far  East  during  recent  years. 

It  will  perhaps  be  a  surprise  to  some  that  the 
port  of  Hong  Kong  holds  the  first  place  in  the  world 
for  the  magnitude  of  its  shipping,  and  that  the  trade 
of  Shanghai,  another  important  port  of  entry,  accord¬ 
ing  to  the  statistics  of  1907,  was  about  equal  to  that 
of  Boston,  Massachusetts,  the  second  port  in  the 
United  States.  The  total  of  foreign  trade  imports  and 
exports  in  China  in  1903  was  about  $346,000,000,  be¬ 
ing  almost  exactly  double  what  it  was  ten  years  be¬ 
fore  that  date,  and  it  has  increased  since  that  time 
by  over  one  hundred  million  dollars.  Of  this  amount 
about  fifty  million  dollars  belonged  to  the  United 


24 


Commerce  and  Missions 


States.  The  exports  of  the  United  States  to  Asiatic 
countries  in  1903  were  valued  at  $58,359,016,  while 
in  the  year  ending  June  30,  1905,  they  represent  the 
surprising  advance  to  a  valuation  of  $127,637,800 
chiefly  owing  to  the  large  increase  in  our  exports  to 
Japan.  The  figures  for  1907-8  indicate  that  this 
rapid  advance  has  not  been  sustained,  and  the  amount 
*  now  stands  as  $101,784,832.  These  are  remarkable 
figures,  but  who  can  estimate  what  they  will  be  now 
that  China  is  about  to  inaugurate  the  telephone,  and 
with  modern  facilities  for  transportation  and  com¬ 
munication  is  preparing  to  do  business,  in  the  spirit 
of  modern  enterprise,  with  the  rest  of  the  world? 

Even  in  the  case  of  Japan,  while  the  Japanese 
themselves  may  justly  claim  a  maximum  share  of  the 
credit  of  their  national  renaissance,  and  their  phenom¬ 
enal  commercial  development,  yet  it  should  not  be 
forgotten  that  the  opening  of  Japan  was  a  memor¬ 
able  achievement  of  American  diplomacy,  and  that 
candor  requires  that  a  certain  meed  of  credit  in  this 
connection  belongs  to  the  guiding  counsels,  the  sympa¬ 
thetic  aid,  and  the  educational  impetus  of  missions. 
Japanese  prospecting  into  the  realms  of  Western 
civilization  has  been — at  least  in  its  early  stages — 
largely  under  missionary  inspiration  and  guidance, 
and  a  goodly  number  of  her  best  men  in  State  and 
Church  alike  are  the  products  of  missions;  yet  not 
much  more  than  half  a  century  ago  international  trade 
was  virtually  prohibited  in  Japan,  and  all  contact  with 
foreigners  was  under  rigorous  restrictions.  The  in¬ 
fluence  of  missions  in  their  relation  to  the  great 
changes  which  have  come  is  not  always  on  the  surface, 
nor  do  we  desire  to  make  it  unduly  prominent;  yet 
no  wise  economic  interpretation  of  history  can  safely 
ignore  the  influence  of  such  educational,  moral,  re- 


Commerce  and  Missions 


25 


ligious,  and  generally  vivifying  forces  as  are  intro¬ 
duced  by  modern  missions.  These  statements  cer¬ 
tainly  apply  in  a  marked  degree  to  the  commercial 
progress  of  Korea.  Trade  returns  there,  as  we  have 
noted  in  so  many  instances,  have  increased  in  a  kind 
of  rhythmic  accord  with  mission  progress.  From 
1895  to  1903  Korean  commerce  in  the  open  ports 
doubled  itself,  having  expanded  from  a  valuation  of 
about  six  million  dollars  to  a  total  of  about  fourteen 
million  dollars,  and  in  the  trade  reports  of  1907  the 
total  figures  are  about  twenty-nine  million  dollars, 
and  of  this  amount  about  twenty-one  million  dollars 
are  imports. 

An  increase  of  one  thousand  per  cent,  in  the  trade 
of  India  during  the  Victorian  Era  tells  the  story  of 
modern  commercial  progress  in  the  great  peninsula — 
a  truly  wonderful  exhibit  of  the  potentialities  of  trade 
in  Asia.  In  the  Turkish  Empire,  under  the  stimulus 
of  monumental  changes  and  revolutionary  progress, 
we  have  the  promise  of  another  commercial  opening, 
which,  according  to  competent  observers,  will  be  due 
in  no  slight  measure  to  the  work  of  American  mis¬ 
sions.  Consul-General  Dickinson  has  stated  his  con¬ 
viction  that  even  the  material  returns  of  American 
mission  work  in  Turkey  have  justified  in  large 
measure  the  outlay.  “From  every  standpoint,”  he  re¬ 
marks,  to  quote  his  exact  words,  “I  do  not  see  how 
the  American  missions  in  Turkey,  as  they  are  at 
present  conducted,  can  fail  to  be  of  distinct  advan¬ 
tage  to  the  commerce  and  influence  of  the  United 
States.”  In  the  Syrian  Protestant  College,  at  Beirut, 
a  “School  of  Commerce”  has  been  established  as  a 
department  of  the  curriculum,  with  a  view  to  train¬ 
ing  educated  young  men  for  skilled  service  in  a  com¬ 
mercial  career.  Commercial  education  has  also  been 


26 


Commerce  and  Missions 


made  part  of  the  curriculum  at  St.  John’s  College, 
Agra,  India,  where  shorthand,  typewriting,  book¬ 
keeping,  and  other  accomplishments  of  practical  value 
are  taught.  Other  schools  of  the  same  character 
might  be  mentioned.  Model  stores  also  have  been 
opened  in  some  of  the  African  missions,  and  among 
the  Indians  of  South  America,  where  trade  is  con¬ 
ducted  in  a  way  to  exemplify  strict  business  methods, 
as  well  as  to  inculcate  the  supreme  virtue  of  honesty. 
Bishop  Selwyn,  as  far  back  as  1857,  during  his  visits 
to  some  of  the  Melanesian  Islands,  introduced  the 
custom  of  buying  yams  by  weight,  to  the  delight  of 
the  natives,  who  were  greatly  impressed  with  the 
strict  and  impartial  justice  of  the  method.  The  Basel 
missionaries  in  Kamerun  have  made  it  a  part  of 
their  service  patiently  to  impress  the  native  with  the 
meaning  and  binding  force  of  a  contract,  and  to 
secure,  if  possible,  his  conscientious  recognition  of 
such  a  self-imposed  obligation.  Thus  in  various  ways 
the  ethics  of  commercial  transactions  are  being  taught. 

That  a  grave  economic  problem  is  involved  in  the 
rapid  advance  of  foreign  commerce  among  native 
races  is  not  to  be  denied,  and  the  resultant  depression 
of  native  industries  would  seem  to  call  for  some 
kindly  effort  to  adjust  this  economic  problem  so  that 
possible  disaster  and  suffering  may  be  mitigated  as 
far  as  possible.  Any  adjustment  of  this  kind  may 
cost  much,  and  may  even  seem  in  some  instances  in¬ 
evitably  to  spell  ruin  to  native  arts  and  industries. 
The  same  difficulties  have  often  had  to  be  met  in  the 
annals  of  the  industrial  world,  and  it  is  to  be  hoped 
that  in  time  these  difficulties  may  be  overcome,  and 
society  will  adjust  itself  to  a  new  industrial  era.  In 
the  meantime,  does  not  this  depression,  involving 
even  in  some  cases  the  extinction  of  native  indus- 


Commerce  and  Missions 


27 


tries  by  the  inroads  of  foreign  commerce,  place  a 
weighty  obligation  upon  the  philanthropic  and  humane 
agencies  of  the  Christian  world  make  some  effort  to 
provide  a  comprehensive  and  practical  technical  train¬ 
ing,  to  enable  the  native  agencies  to  meet  successfully 
the  exigencies  of  this  new  and  desperate  trade  situa¬ 
tion?  An  Indian  missionary,  in  referring  to  the 
economic  ascendancy  of  England  in  India,  sug¬ 
gestively  remarks :  “This  is  a  fine  thing  for  English 
industry,  but  what  does  it  mean  for  Indian  industry? 
We  cannot  turn  back  the  tide  of  the  inevitable,  but 
we  can  mix  with  that  tide  the  healing  streams  of  the 
Gospel,  and  our  own  human  sympathy.  Let  us  build 
as  we  break.  The  Christian  business  man  ought  to 
feel  that  wherever  he  sends  his  goods  and  makes  his 
profit,  there  he  must  with  equal  urgency  send  his 
Gospel.  My  deepest  conviction  is  that  the  only  power 
which  can  help  the  people  of  India  to  build  up  a 
new  social  and  industrial  fabric  out  of  the  present 
ruin  is  the  power  of  Jesus  Christ  creating  in  them  a 
new  self-respect,  and  new  impulses  in  new  directions. 
In  the  Gospel  we  hold  that  which  we  can  give  to 
other  nations,  which  will  make  them  great  and 
glorious,  without  impoverishing  ourselves.  Let  every 
Christian  Englishman  do  his  duty  by  the  countries  he 
trades  with.” 

In  a  country  like  Japan  the  adjustment  above  re¬ 
ferred  to  may  be  accomplished  with  ease,  and  much 
more  rapidly  than,  for  example,  in  a  land  like  China. 
It  is  already  progressing  in  Japan  at  a  pace  which  is 
altogether  unexampled.  “Twenty-two  years  ago,” 
wrote  Dr.  J.  H.  DeForest  in  1896,  “when  I  first  saw 
the  great  commercial  centre  of  the  empire,  Osaka, 
where  seven-tenths  of  all  the  wealth  of  Japan  was 
said  to  be  gathered,  there  were  only  two  tall  brick 


28 


Commerce  and  Missions 


chimneys  visible — those  of  the  Mint  and  of  a  paper 
mill.  Now  the  city  is  surrounded  by  a  dozen  miles 
of  brick  and  iron  chimneys,  with  over  three  thousand 
factories.  Everywhere  manufactures,  commercial 
companies,  railroads,  foreign  commerce,  banks,  in¬ 
surance,  have  leaped  forward  with  immense  strides, 
especially  since  the  war  [with  China] .”  Railways  are 
still  projected  by  the  score,  a  merchant  marine  of 
magnificent  proportions  is  already  launched,  and 
modern  facilities  of  all  kinds  are  being  readily  and 
rapidly  adopted.  The  .industrial  expansion  of  Japan 
is  therefore  phenomenal. 

The  introduction  of  improved  agricultural 

IMPLEMENTS  IN  VAST  HITHERTO  UNCULTIVATED  RE¬ 
GIONS  OF  THE  EARTH  MAY  BE  TRACED  DIRECTLY  TO  THE 
MISSIONARY,  IN  MANY  INSTANCES.  It  Was  Dr.  Moffat 
who  taught  the  Kaffirs  the  value  of  irrigation,  and  it 
was  the  clumsy  hoe  which  was  the  most  effective  in¬ 
strument  of  the  African  native,  until  the  plow  was 
thrust  into  the  soil  by  an  American  missionary. 
Previous  to  that  the  burden  of  agricultural  cultiva¬ 
tion  rested  largely  upon  the  women.  Huge  oxen 
passed  an  almost  useless  existence  so  far  as  any 
agricultural  or  transport  service  was  concerned.  Since 
the  introduction  of  plows  there  have  been  thousands 
— especially  those  of  American  manufacture — im¬ 
ported  for  use  in  South  Africa. 

Not  long  ago  the  Rev.  D.  Z.  Sheffield  invented 
and  perfected  a  Chinese  typewriter,  with  a  type-wheel 
providing  four  thousand  available  characters  for  use. 
Although  the  language  contains  over  forty  thousand 
distinct  characters,  yet  for  typewriting  purposes  it 
has  been  found  that  they  may  be  reduced  to  about 
four  thousand.  In  his  hours  of  recreation  and  re- 


Commerce  and  Missions 


29 


lief  from  the  duties  of  his  missionary  service  Dr. 
Sheffield  has  quietly  wrought  out  and  adjusted  to 
Chinese  uses  this  invaluable  invention  of  modern 
commerce.  We  may  credit  also  Mr.  F.  D.  Phinney, 
Superintendent  of  the  Baptist  Mission  Press  at 
Rangoon,  with  the  construction  of  a  Burmese  type¬ 
writer.  It  was  the  Rev.  John  Williams  who  built  the 
“Messenger  of  Peace,”  a  ship  of  about  sixty  tons 
burden,  and  taught  the  natives  of  Rarotonga  the  art 
of  shipbuilding;  and  these  same  natives  became  there 
and  elsewhere  among  the  Pacific  Islanders  the  builders 
of  their  own  ships,  of  far  larger  dimensions  than 
any  previously  constructed.  Carey  imported  the  first 
steam  engine  into  India,  for  his  paper  mill.  Dr. 
Sheldon  Jackson  was  instrumental  in  introducing 
reindeer  into  Alaska,  and  Dr.  Grenfell  has  similar 
plans  for  Labrador.  The  Rev.  W.  N.  Brewster 
imported  machinery  for  the  extraction  of  the  juice 
from  sugar-cane  in  China,  as  he  had  observed  that 
the  stone  mills  used  in  that  great  sugar  growing  region 
worked  so  imperfectly  that  twenty  per  cent,  of  the 
best  juice  was  left  in  the  cane,  and  burned  up.  “Hosts 
of  chiefs  and  slaves  are  crowding  my  smithy,”  wrote 
Mackay,  of  Uganda,  in  1879.  They  were  filled  with 
wonder  at  the  turning  lathe,  and  various  mechanical 
devices.  The  first  electric  plant  in  Mid  Africa  was 
operated  under  the  supervision  of  Dr.  Laws,  of  the 
Livingstonia  Mission. 

We  can  follow  the  historic  footsteps  of  missions 
over  distant  continents  into  comparatively  unknown 
regions,  and  find  that,  with  hardly  an  exception,  the 
pathway  of  commerce  has  been  opened  where  the 
missionary  has  first  trod.  An  outcome  so  universal 
can  hardly  be  a  mere  coincidence.  It  suggests  beyond 
cavil  that  Divine  Providence  has  linked  by  deep  un- 


30 


Commerce  and  Missions 


dercurrents  of  influence  the  material  progress  and 
the  commercial  expansion  of  the  world  with  the  ad¬ 
vance  of  His  beneficent  kingdom  among  the  races  of 
mankind.  Does  not  this  study  of  the  political  and 
commercial  value  of  missions  emphasize  the  fact  that 
missions,  under  proper  auspices  and  with  suitable 
methods,  should  be  awarded  a  prominent  place  in 
the  activities  of  the  modern  world  ?  Is  not  this  especi¬ 
ally  true  in  connection  with  any  wise  and  effective 
policy  of  national  expansion  which  has  its  roots  in 
Christendom?  If  expansion  is  on  military  lines  alone, 
or  is  based  upon  exclusively  political  or  economic  de¬ 
signs,  or  is  pushed  with  a  view  simply  to  commercial 
gains,  it  must  eventually  prove  to  be  a  short-sighted 
and  defective  policy.  It  will  lack  the  element  which 
may  fairly  be  regarded  as  essential  to  the  highest 
conception  and  the  most  permanent  value  of  the  im¬ 
perialistic  ideal.  The  words  of  the  late  Dr.  James 
Stewart,  in  his  address  as  Moderator  of  the  Free 
Church  of  Scotland,  seem  fully  justified.  He  re¬ 
marked  :  “The  Christian  Church  is  not  aware  of  the 
magnitude  of  the  change  that  is  going  on  all  over  the 
world  at  the  present  time  where  missionary  effort 
exists.  It  is  exactly  to-day  as  in  the  early  days  of 
Christianity.  The  statesmen  of  Rome,  the  thinkers 
and  philosophers  and  busy  men  of  those  days,  took 
almost  no  notice  of  the  new.  power  that  had  begun 
its  work  in  the  world.  One  or  two  of  them  wrote 
letters  to  the  emperors  about  this  new  and  singular 
sect  of  whom  they  had  heard,  but  serious  attention, 
save  that  of  persecution,  they  never  thought  of  be¬ 
stowing  on  the  new  movement ;  and  they  little  dreamt 
of  what  it  would  one  day  accomplish. 


I 


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